Story originally published on August 12, 2014
The European Union (EU) has provided financial support
worth P6.8 million to promote initiatives against human trafficking and illegal
recruiting in the Philippines. The grant will go to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration
(POEA), a DOLE agency. Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda
Dimapilis-Baldoz thanked the EU for its assistance and added that she
"will ensure that the grant will be used as intended: to strengthen the
POEA's capabilities and enhance cooperation between national and local
authorities in combating illegal recruitment and trafficking". The grant
comes a month after the Philippines and Australia signed the Australia Asia
Program to Combat Trafficking In Persons (AAPTIP) agreement. Australia provided
funding of AUS$5 million to the Philippines and other ASEAN countries under the
agreement. Trafficking and illegal recruiting have remained prevalent in the
Philippines; the POEA said that, in 2011, there were 224 victims of trafficking
and 135 cases of illegal recruitment.
Full account
available at: